[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: hello friends and neighbors, good morning, good morning. it is wednesday. wednesday april 24th. good to see you this wednesday morning. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. we're going to tell you what is going on this morning, and bring you up to date by taking your

calls at 866-55-press getting your comments on twitter, twitter, @bpshow and on facebook at facebook/billpressshow. well, the senate and the house are back in session today full bore, a lot of debate over whether or not events up in boston should have any impact on the immigration reform legislation now going through the united states senate and if so how? meanwhile republicans are also still complaining about those delays in flights flight delays, some of them up to three hours down in atlanta, and some of them are demanding that congress pass a special exemption for flight delays and white house tours from the sequester. of course they don't care about cuts in head start or medicaid.

and the man arrested in sending those ricin letters didn't do it. and there were no explosion at the white house yesterday. all of that and more coming up. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

(vo) current tv is the place for compelling true stories. (kaj) jack, how old are you? >> nine. (adam) this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places where few others are going. [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the health care system. (christoff) we go and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. (vo) from the underworld to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

>> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. ♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: well, remember that man that sent those ricin letters to the president and mississippi senator? guess what he didn't do it after all. that's just one of the things waking us up this morning. good morning, everybody. lots of news on this wednesday april 24th middle of the week.

great to see you today welcome to the "full court press." here we go. we're joining you. you are joining us on your local progressive talk radio station, on sirius xm this hour only and on current tv. good to have you with us. thank you for joining us. we promise we'll make it the best three hours of your day. of your morning anyway. >> of your life. don't sell yourself short. >> bill: all right. thank you. so good that you'll want to come back day after day, not only because you'll fine out what is going on but you will get to sound off by giving us a call at 866-55-press, by talking to us on twitter, @bpshow, and on

facebook, at facebook/billpressshow. i mean you got your choice here, if you don't like me. then you can like peter ogburn. if you don't like him. you are like dan henning. if you don't like dan, then you can like alicia cruz. and if you don't like alicia you can like siprion bolling. >> and if you don't like siprion, then there is something wrong with you. we still have this cold spell in washington, everybody is complaining about it. i'll tell you, yesterday i didn't realize how scary it was when i arrived at the white house and discovered that two bombs had just gone off at the white house. yeah hello.

that's what was reported on associated press yesterday. it turns out, of course that somebody had hacked into ap's twitter account and put out the word that there were two explosions at the white house, and the president was injured. julie pace who picks off the briefings usually -- jay carney always calls on associated presser, julie wanted to reassure everybody that there was a problem. >> i just want to say at the top that it appears that ap twitter account has been hacked so anything that has just been sent out at about the house with is false. >> good, i appreciate that and i can say that the president is fine, i was just with him. >> bill: he briefing actually started a half hour late because

jay carney had been with the president in the oval office. >> there have been several twitter hacks in recent weeks. >> bill: yeah, and the first lady's id was even stolen. and anthony weaner's twitter account was even hacked. >> bill: oh, yeah at least he claims it was. >> nobody on twitter anyway believed it when it happened. everybody suspected that they had been hawked because if something like that happens you have cameras on the white house all the time so if there would have been explosions we would have known about it. >> bill: and you have reporters at the white house all the time. nobody believed it except the idiots on wall street the

market tanked went down like a hundred points once that fake twitter went out, because those idiot traders, right? or people either on the floor -- no not on the floor. they just get the orders. the people in these trading housing, think oh, this is going to be bad for the country, sell sell, sell, sell. and they did. so sudden dive and it didn't take long for it to be reported that this was a phony report and then it went right back up again. >> the visual of it so staggering. >> bill: yeah. >> and i don't know what that means for us as a country that that quickly it went yeah we're fine, holy crap and then dipped down so deep. >> bill: so if you have a money market fund or something, and your ira, or 401k, you lost a

lot of money, hopefully you got it back but because some idiot on wall street overreacted. don't you think they ought to wait to find out what is true and what is not true before they order a issue to sell or not sell. eliot spitzer will be joining us, also neil king from the wall street journal, we can ask him about it too. and then we'll be talking to one of the leaders of the air traffic controllers union about what is going on with the furloughs and flight delays and should we revamp -- or should we just forget about immigration reform after what happened in boston? but first -- >> announcer: this the "full court press" ♪ >> other stuff to think about as you head out the door this morning, cnns john king has owned up to his sad coverage of

the boston bombing suspect last week. he said his inaccurate reporting of the investigation was embarrassing. he also noted what happened was a shock to him personally and professionally, and he certainly learned a lesson even though he has been at this for 30 years. >> bill: yeah, check your sources, john. he'll be known for that. >> ben affleck is going to give on the other side for a week. he has committed to take the 2013 live below the line challenge to shine a light on global poverty. he tweeted that 1.4 billion people live below the poverty loan and they need help. $1.50 a dollar. >> bill: i could do it. >> yeah? >> bill: right. >> for five days? >> bill: i can't imagine.

but if you stock up fill your refrigerator, right -- >> you can't do that bill. >> bill: you can get buy -- >> i'm pretty sure that is cheating. >> bill: yeah. >> you found a loophole. >> bill: i did. >> this isn't so bad. >> bill: shoot you can do it. >> bill. [ laughter ] >> the nhl playoff spots are starting to fill up after a season shortened by a lockout. the washington [ inaudible ] st. louis blues beat the colorado avalanche, and even though the new york islanders lost to the carolina hurricanes they always made it in the eastern division. the l.a. kings have a spot but the new jersey devils will not make it this year. >> bill: and how did that feel

last year? >> the nets lost they now lost 8 of 11 games. >> bill: yeah, they just couldn't get it together last night. losing again to the cardinals. >> expect nations or set a little bit too high for the nationals i think. >> bill: yes indeed. here is where we start the day with a big battle and the big debate over the immigration reform legislation which has suddenly taken a new twist in light of the bombings at the boston marathon. you remember we -- we showed you yesterday -- or played yesterday a little clip about a pretty heated exchange when -- in the senate judiciary committee on month when chuck schumer was presenting the immigration reform plan put together by these four democrats and these four republicans, and he made some comment about people who

were using -- trying to use the boston marathon bombings and the fact that these were done by two kids who came here as immigrants, that they were trying to use that to say maybe we shouldn't do this or certainly slow it or certainly delay it and chuck schumer's comments followed some earlier warnings by senator chuck grassley ranking republican from iowa and he didn't like what chuck schumer was implying. here is how that went. >> i say that particularly those who were pointing to what happened, the terrible trammingdy in boston as a -- a -- i would say excuse for not doing a bill or delaying it many months or years. >> i never said that. >> i didn't say you did sir. >> i never said that. >> i didn't say you did -- >> chairman i don't appreciate

demeaning the witnesses that have come here. >> let me finish -- >> bill: jeff sessions jumps in there, but yesterday secretary home lan security janet napolitano was up in front of the same committee, and once again senator grassley, he is not coming up he is trying to make this link that what happened in boston proves their loopholes and problems in our immigration system and to do immigration reform right now is not the best time to do it. >> the background checks on the 12 million people who are here illegally are riddled with problems that appear to be involved in this case, it raises serious questions about the department's ability to properly investigate such individuals. >> bill: and senator grassley says that the tsarnaev brothers

were really able to use our immigration system in order to facilitate their attacks. >> these two individuals used our immigration system to assist our attacks, it's important to our ongoing discussion. >> bill: there's zero evidence that they used their immigrant status to facilitate their attacks, unless you are talk about the fact that the guy went to russia for six months, but, you know, you are allowed to travel. >> yeah, at that point he was already here. >> bill: yeah. >> when they came here one was 15 and one was 8. i would love your take on this at 866-55-press. the question is should the boston marathon bombings have any impact at all on the proposed immigration reform? and remember the immigration reform deals the question of those people who have come here illegally, and are now here

illegally, some 12 million of them, and what we do about the problem of people coming here -- coming here illegally, not through the regular system. that's the whole thrust of the immigration reform. and you talk about the fact that we need three things right? we need a path to citizenship, we need to secure the border, and we need to make sure that people who hire undocumented workers can't do so, so easily and have to pay a fine. everybody says there has to be three aspects of this immigration reform legislation. so the question is what does boston have to do with any of that. you have got people making the arguments on both sides. okay? those who support -- first of all let's start -- those who oppose the immigration reform put forth by the gang of eight, like chuck grassley, they are saying this proves there are holes in the system, people are

taking advantage of the system, this is allowing people to come here and -- and planter terrorist acts against the united states, so before we recognize anybody else who has come here illegally we have to stop the whole process, delay this, and make sure that we're doing the right thing. that's the opposition. those who support the gang of eight, they say, well no. this means that we'll make sure everybody comes out of hiding, out of the shadows, signs up registers, so we know who they are, and we can sort out who might be who of those 11 or 12 million might be a danger to this country and who might not be. i don't think either one of them is right. i don't think the boston marathon has anything to do with

immigration reform the need to recognize these people who have come here illegally, a lot of them as kids are contributing every bit as much as american citizens are today. they have jobs families they have homes they are living here. we depend on their labor, they are paying taxes, and it has nothing to do with the tsarnaev brothers in best -- boston. i think this discussion is a total waste of time. let's focus on immigration reform and get it done. 866-55-press, 866-557-7377 let's talk about it. >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show," now on current tv. ♪

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>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go twenty-six minutes after the hour wednesday april 24th -- 24? yeah, that's right. so the question is how does what happened in boston -- or how should it impact our debate over immigration reform legislation today and the need for it? i said it shouldn't at all. nothing to do with it. nothing to do with it. peter online in >> we're on twitter @bpshow, where jim says is the gop the party of cowards or once again playing the fear card on immigration for political gain. >> bill: i think it's both. >> and don says the gop look at

these boston bombers as immigrants and will try to use it to kill the bill. which is what they're doing. >> that's absolutely what they are doing. >> bill: and they are looking for any hook or leverage to try to kill this legislation, because it was going down the track pretty fast before the events of last week. ron is out in elgen, illinois. >> caller: good morning, bill. i don't think boston has anything to do with immigration reform. those that are using it as an excuse are just biased. and i would say one name timothy mcveigh what country did he immigrate from? >> bill: yeah chuck grassley

could probably try to make a link. these kids came here. their family pleading the persecution in chechnya and moved on to wherever and finally came here as an 15 year old, and 8 year old, they came here legally, through the system, one of them became an american citizen, the other one had not yet because he had been questioned by the government at the question of the russian government. but do you know from there to saying, we can't do anything and we shouldn't do anything again about this festering problem of 12 million people here in this country illegally and about our border as porous as it is we didn't do anything because of the bombing up in boston? no, come on. let's get serious.

more calls coming up 866-55-press. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

♪ >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show," live on your radio, and current tv. >> bill: all right. thirty-three minutes after the hour here the "full court press" here on a wednesday. governor eliot spitzer joining us next. but back to your calls on immigration reform and the boston marathon bombings. what is the connection?

people are trying to make a connection. i think that's hard to do so and we should not do so but you may disagree. 866-55-press, our toll free number. quickly, here is a case of identity thief nabbed for identity theft. a woman worked in a bank and used the name date of birth and social security number of a customer to obtain a loan. fortunately in that case that identity theft was stopped in its tracks but you may not be so lucky if you are not protected against it. i am with lifelock. call now and mention press 60, and you'll get 60 free days of

ultimate lifelock protection. see lifelock for details and then make that important call to 1-800-356-5967. before we go to the calls, peter, comments online. >> you can find at @bpshow. don says if any reform come out of the bombings, it's gun laws. the fact that people are using this to help with immigration, maybe they should be looking at other issues. >> bill: that's a good point. i just keep seeing comments about the weapons that they had, and how many weapons that they had, but i haven't seen anything else about where they bought them and how they got them -- >> i haven't seen that yet.

>> bill: i did see something this morning about some of the black powder that they got -- that they used in the pressure cooker bombs, they got them by buying fireworks that had black powder in them. but i haven't seen much about the guns. that's a good point, don. >> and larry bond says does the gop really need a reason to do nothing? >> bill: good point. they don't really need any excuse anymore to do nothing. mike is out in colorado springs. hey, mike, what do you say? >> bill: hey, there are things i don't always agree with you on, but this i do agree with you on. but one step further, i am really tired of politicians passing laws any time a tragedy happens. can't you give us some time to mourn and treat these people like human beings instead of using their deaths to pass

agendas. >> bill: i don't disagree with that, mike there is a knee jerk reaction, right, something happens and the answer is pass a bill right? i forget who it was -- i saw it recently, somebody who said that we should -- actually i think it might have been president cal coolidge or something that it was more important to get rid of bills and laws that don't work than to keep passing new ones but yeah the knee jerk reaction is always more bills, more legislation, more laws. even as a liberal, i agree that's overdone. thanks mike good to hear from you. city in league city texas. >> caller: hi, how you? >> bill: you are going to be there for the dedication of the george bush library, i guess?

>> caller: i don't be doing that. here is the thing though there is absolutely no correlation whatsoever between what happened in boston and immigration. now i'm from texas, so immigration reform is quite important to me. >> bill: yeah, absolutely. i'm from california same deal right? >> caller: i'm on a border town too, and i'm -- good with that. i'm so sick of them saying -- in fact i think it is -- it's insulting to those victims that happen -- there were unfortunately caught up in this mess that took place in boston. it's insulting to do that. it's wrong. it takes the focus off of the true tragedy that happened there. >> bill: excellent point. >> caller: and just for the record, we're all immigrants in one way or another, every blessed one of us.

i bet ya there's probably a hundred people that are native to this country, which wasn't a country until we took it over. i'm sorry -- i'm insulted. >> bill: excellent point. so good to hear from you. i agree on both points. nothing to do with it, and it does insult the memory of those people who were caught up in this. and lindsey graham did the same thing trying to make a political football out of insisting that the surviving suspect be tried as an enemy combatant. the same thing now by these people trying to make a political football out of this saying this proves we can't move to fast on immigration reform. cynthia in lancing, michigan. >> caller: i agree it does not

have anything to do with the bombing in boston. if they crafted the bill the republicans are trying to hold it up only because they are thinking in a political sense that with -- we're trying to write this bill so we can get the votes for the hispanics in 2014. i believe that. >> bill: yeah, see -- now there are some republicans, remember this gang of eight includes four republicans who recognize this is the right thing to do number one, and they also recognize that as a party they need to do something to show they are not totally against the latino population. but others are afraid of this legislation because they think as a result of this, right, and these 11 million people eventually after a long road

become citizens that they are going to vote democratic and the democrats are, you know, control everything for all time right? but they are the people that are trying to use this bombing as a political football. >> bill: if they want to use that as a political football they should talk about the guns that those kids used -- you know to hold up that guy in the carjacking and shooting up the person at mit -- >> bill: and killing the officer at mit, you are right, cynthia. they don't go there. they could deny that this has anything to do with guns but insist it has everything to do with immigration. cynthia, good to hear from you. bryce is in payson -- is that it -- payson utah. hey, bryce. >> caller: hey how are you

doing, bill? >> bill: good. good to hear from you. >> caller: i think this process of becoming a citizen is incredibly ridiculous. i have known some people i have helped go through the process -- >> bill: yeah, it's not easy. >> caller: it's extremely hard and costs a great deal of money too. and how can we expect somebody from mexico to be able to pay that much money. they have to get a job to do it legally -- >> caller: bryce i appreciate your point, but that phone is driving me crazy. sorry about that but especially hearing -- appreciate hearing from somebody -- we don't get a lot of calls from utah. >> no, we don't. >> caller: i thought the mormon church has zapped our signal or something, so it's nice to know that we're penetrating, although

maybe that was the mormon church that put that buzz in the phone line. paul calling from benton pennsylvania. hey, paul. >> caller: good morning, everybody. yeah, this was definitely a -- you know, the republicans are using this as a political football, but what we really need in immigration reform is we need some fairness because it seems that people can come in from anywhere, fill out a bunch of paperwork and within a reasonable amount of time they become citizens but yet if you are hispanic, you have got to go to the back of the line pay a fine, pay back taxes and everything else, and, you know, all of the hispanics that are already here become citizens, they are going to lose their indentured labor force. >> bill: paul i'm glad you raised that, because that's my

problem, and that's what i think we really ought to be talking about, is i think this so-called path to citizenship, the more i hear about it, from the gang of 8, i'm not sure these people will live long enough to ever get to then of the path to citizenship. they are talking 13 years or more, and paying back taxes and paying a fee, and learning english, and god knows what else. but the bombings certainly, i think we all agree has nothing to do with this immigration reform. eliot spitzer coming up next with his take on the day's stories here on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the

health care system. (christoff) we go and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. (vo) from the underworld to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv.

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>> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio, and on current tv. >> bill: thirteen minutes before the top of the hour now, neil king will be here as a friend of bill in the next hour. and it's nice to know we're not alone, peter. we have to get up early, read the papers the websites get up to speed on the news and then have something to say about it but we always feel better when we know we're not alone, eliot spitzer is up as early as we are, and joins us every wednesday morning. governor. >> good morning, bill, but here is the difference, you have to be in the studio. [ laughter ] >> bill: there is an advantage there. i sanit the "new york times" this morning lead story that

the sec is considering a proposal that i think would -- maybe the answer to citizens united that would force companies to reveal to their shareholders all of their political contributions. >> bill this is something -- i have been saying for months on your show, ownership trumps regulation. the way to answer citizens united, because we know we're not going to get the supreme court to reverse it or get a constitutional amendment to overturn it, force companies to reveal what they are doing. you can do it through an sec rule. the faster way is for shareholders to go to their companies and say stop what you are doing. are different gradations along the spectrum the first thing is disclose. these shareholders should be going to the boards saying we

want to know what we you are doing in politics. >> bill: i have been involved in california in a couple of battles like that, and actually went to shareholder meetings and at one time made a pitch -- but as a radical oren grade to shareholders, you can also get voted down. >> look, it's very hard to win many of these shareholder resolutions. there is a whole separate complicated issues of why shareholders -- who owns the shares? pension funds, endowments those groups do not even embrace the more -- you use the word radical, progressive way -- you know, out of the box ideas for what should be done at the corporate level. having said that this idea is main stream, sensible is a disclosure issue and so this one i think will get a lot of

traction and should be successful. >> bill: the sec would have the authority to require this, correct? >> oh, yeah, there's no question the sec could do it. you have the chamber of commerce -- >> bill: oh yeah. >> -- economic growth or whatever their names are coming in and saying oh no you can't do this, and they will go to court and they have overturned successfully some other legislation. so they will do everything they can on the other side. >> bill: to stop it, right. but the impact if the sec enforced it the impact would be that groups like -- this is a question, not a statement -- a group like karl rove's cross roads would not be able to keep their contributions anonymous, right? >> only to the extent that the contributions came from big

companies. the koch brothers for instance have many different revenues and sources from which they can contribute. some are private companies, some are public companies, but if the koch brothers want to contribute individually, it would make it through the system. >> bill: i think this is more real than the idea of amending the constitution. >> that's why since day one, you and i have had this conversation, i have been saying shareholders is the reservoir of power that has yet to be tapped. >> bill: right. in some parts of the country, they are experiencing delays in flights, and the cancellation of some flights, and they are demanding that we have an

exemption to the sequester for air traffic controllers. >> right. >> bill: this is like saying we want the sequester, but we don't want to feel the impact. >> yes, the hypocrisy in the sequester is just incredible and now they are trying to exempt the preshour -- pressure points. the president was saying it is going to be a much more significant impact eventually and this is a death by a thousand cuts, and now we're beginning to feel some pain, so congress is doing what it always does trying to relieve the pressure, but they want the easy way out. >> bill: the way to get rid of the sequester is to do what is right, right? >> that's right. and not just do one by one runoffs, which again is not the right response. >> bill: it's interesting, and

of course maybe not unexpected that the cuts to head start or food stamps or section 8 housing vouchers, we're okay with that. >> absolutely. again, this will affect where people's politics are, and people being delayed at the airports are a real inconvenience, and the group that is not surprisingly able to pick up the phone and call the congressmen and say hey, this isn't working for me and the people that have the safety net programs, are not empowered to make that sort of play politically. >> bill: i know, exactly. but it's fun to watch. always more fun to watch it with you and talk about it with you. thank you, eliot. >> thank you bill. >> bill: thank you, eliot spitzer. former host here on current tv. i miss him.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." this show is about analyzing iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care

about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

(vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. on lindsey graham gerald hunter says, once again, lindsey graham shows his dumb-ass face on fox news. i think the boston police and the fbi should come to south carolina and get this dumb ass, and make mark sanford and tim scott as a bonus. how can the people of south carolina be so stupid as to elect these idiots? well, the good news it looks

like they may not reelect, mark sanford. that's a plus.

[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: good morning, and welcome, welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv this morning, wednesday april 24th. thanks for joining us, good to see you today, we have got lots to talk about, lots of news happening here in our nation's capitol, around the country and the globe, we'll bring you up to date on all of it no matter what it is we're there. we have got it covered. and we'll give you a chance to

get involved in the conversation and tell us what it means to you and your family. 866-55-press is the toll-free number if you want to join us by phone. 866-557-7377. or you can join us on twitter, @bhshow, just make sure that your twitter account has not been hacked. and on facebook become our friend and talk to us on facebook/billpressshow. the senate and house both back in session. they'll be off again next week by the way, but back after a long weekend. a big debate now in washington on whether or not the events in boston last week should have any impact on immigration reform legislation and in so how. and republicans are still crying foul over those delays in flights that were experienced at some airports the last couple of

days. they are demanding there be an ex -- exemption just for air travel. we'll be right back. >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned

"great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. ♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: because of what happened in boston we should delay all immigration reform. well, that's what some people are saying i don't think they are going to get away with it. hello, everybody. the "full court press" coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station lucky if you have got one, enjoy it appreciate support it and coming to you live on current tv

of course, coast-to-coast from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. it is such a busy news day today that we couldn't possibly plow our way through all of the news of the day ourselves, so we need some help, and we found it with neil king. political reporter for the wall street journal. nice to see you again. >> nice to see you. >> bill: nice that we can say get out of bed and get over here. >> i had some advanced warning, so i had a little time to think. >> bill: you did. the whole crew is here. peter ogburn dan henning alicia cruz and siprion bolling on the video. be part of the conversation at 866-55-press. that's our toll-free number or

on twitter at @bpshow, and peter is standing by to capture your comments on the social media. >> pouncing on your comments as they come in. >> bill: as long as they are legitimate. president obama yesterday it was nice, neil i thought in the rose garden to salute people who do some of the best work in this country and don't get enough recognition, teachers. i have been to several of these events. the president does this once a year in the row garden to salute the teacher of the year. today's teacher of the year here is the president yesterday. >> science enrollment is way up, kids are graduating with college-level science credits. the school expects to have to hire more teachers now to meet

the demand. >> bill: i remember teachers in elementary school, public high school, and catholic high school where i went, who really were good teachers and had a big impact on my life. >> oh, yeah particularly in high school. >> i have always said that children are our future teach them well and let them lead the way. >> here he goes. i guess he didn't have any good teachers. he is bitter. >> bill: to me it started with mrs. money, my first grade teacher. i still remember her. and she made a great impression. >> i'll always remember my pre-k teacher mrs. furlock who taught us to square dance. >> bill: where did you grow up? >> bolder colorado, but in the

days where people square danced and then we would shake cream until it turned into butter. >> bill: all right. we're going to be talking with a spokesperson with the air traffic controllers, and then ginger gibson joins us in the next hour. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> nbc's ann curry who has barely been on the air in the last nine months. last week cut her hair without nbc's approval. all air talent are required to tell their hire ups before they change anything about their physical appearance. but she wanted to do something

simpler, so she chopped it all off. >> bill: i never had that in my contract that i had to get permission for a haircut. >> you are looking good bill. >> bill: i say good for her. get a haircut. >> the justice department filed its formal complaint against lance armstrong in federal court yesterday saying the cyclist was unjustly enriched. they say he violated his contract with the postal service. and they are seeking triple of whatever damages the jury assesses, the postal service paid armstrong $17 million back from 1998 to 2004 part of the $40 million package. >> isn't the biggest question why is the postal service

involved in bicycling. >> bill: yeah. >> $40 million. >> caller: yeah, this is how the postal service is going to balance the budget. >> yeah, get the money from the winnings, put it in the postal service. >> bill: they got a lot of positive publicity out of it. >> another day, another twitter account hacked. yesterday the associated press got hit. someone got into the twitter account and posted that there were explosions at the white house and the president was injured. it briefly caused the financial word to tank. >> bill: indeed. neil the briefing started yesterday with julie -- we were all buzzing ahead of time -- we

knew it was not true because we were there in the white house, so -- and we weren't blown up right? but julie pace had to start the briefing by saying i just want to apologize and let everybody know we think we have been hacked and whatever you read is not true and jay carney assuring assuring everybody he had just left the oval office and the president was fine. and then the market tanked 100 points on -- with -- thanks to a phony twitter. >> i know you have to twitter is there connected up to some automatic trading or are these actual people making decisions? but can you be that dumb. i didn't see it in real time, so it's hard to judge, but the thing actually said and barack obama has been injured. which the ap would not say barack obama. they would say president obama.

it didn't read right. but anyone who would start selling on an ap twitter blurb like that maybe should be in a different business. >> bill: and it could be -- there are computers that do everything, and computers look for keywords and if they see something like bombing, they automatically go sell. and they have the capacity to do that, which is scary. >> it is scary. >> bill: people could lose a lot of money because of a mistake by a computer. >> it seems like a bad design if we can drop that far that fast. >> bill: it was like 100 points d. >> -- over something on twitter. >> yeah the whole thing happened in a minute or two. >> bill: yeah, the idea that we are so twitterized, right? this country now operates by whatever appears on twitter? >> yeah.

that's now the -- the news bulletin itself, right? that is the ticker tape. i can only assume there are all kinds of ap guys that have access to that main account. we have our @wjs account has millions of followers, it may not have as many as the ap i don't know -- >> bill: or the "full court press." >> or as many as the "full court press." but i would love to know the fuller story on exactly how this hacking occurred. it's not that hard -- >> yeah, my account has been hacked. and our account has been hacked. you just have to change your pass word every so on. if one of us was to get compromised, and that's bad for

the whole account. >> bill: i want to turn to politics for a second too. yesterday i was surprised because i know him well and he is a neighbor of ours here on capitol hill senator max baucus who is up for reelection in 2014, surprised everybody announcing he is not going to run for reelection. conservative democrat. sometimes a rebellious democrat. but he joins senator carl levin, senator tom harkin. senator frank louderberg, there are a lot of long-time powerful democrats who are not running again. >> yeah. what is funny about montana is it wasn't clear at all that baucus had any particular challenger that would frighten him. he had $5 million or so in the

bank which was a lot. >> bill: the former governor has talked about it. >> yeah, but that would be challenging him in the primary. and that would be no small thing. now if he steps in and there are already people urging him to do that he could be pretty formidable. and it's one of those interesting hybrid states. i just got to figure that -- to take him on his word that he wanted to live on and find out what life is like outside of the senate. and he happens to own one of the most gorgeous pieces of land you could own in the world. which as i understand "a river runs through it" was filmed. he has this huge ranch in montana. >> bill: yeah, he has spent 30

years or more, i guess in washington. but it's the balance of power in the senate that i think certainly -- is starting to put democrats at a distinct disadvantage with so many of their popular guys just saying they are throwing it in. >> yeah, they were already at dis disadvantage, when so many of them were running for reelection in difficult to hold red states and now with attrition rate the way it is, it is going to make it more difficult. now they run the table, but hold a bunch of these states where there are new koerms. >> bill: also president obama will go to dallas today where he is speaking at a dnc fund raiser, and then he'll be there tomorrow for the celebration, the opening of the george w. bush presidential library.

all jokes about my pet goat aside, george busch and library being in the same sentence but what does it mean for w? is this the renewal or revival of the bush legacy? >> there has been the whole george bush is back and the "washington post" did a poll that he is back in a popular sense. i'm not sure the data backs that. we did a poll a week ago we hadn't asked about bush for a while. ours is do you feel positively or negatively or neutral towards this person? and his positives were up by 3 percentage points from 31 to 35%. what dropped a lot were his negatives. but it's not like people are suddenly in love with george bush. he has gone into retirement

almost into recollusion in a way, right? he has been out very little given a couple of speeches. he has painted his paintings. [ laughter ] >> and he has been kind of humorous george bush in the way he is. so this is a coming out -- i guess return to the public stage, but it has the appearances of something that will be brief. is he going to return to public life? he says i'm not going to return to politics but i'm going to remain in the policy arena, and he's doing some work in africa. there is such a distinction, democratic former presidents by and large if you look back over the last couple of decades, they remain firmly in the public arena, and do things. the republican tradition is more to -- i guess go back to the

george washington -- >> bill: >> bill: crawl under a rock. his father when he was called on, he responded well in terms of natural disasters -- his father gerald ford. >> yeah and reagan which was a different story, but by and large it seems their retire. >> bill: so george bush is not going replace ronald reagan as the heart throb of the republican party? >> i don't think so. it's only inevitable that he will be more appreciated as time goes by. >> bill: right. neil king is here as a friend of bill. join us with your comments at

866-55-press. >> announcer: on your radio, and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." ♪ i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

this show is about analyzing

criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go twenty-six minutes after the hour. representative for the air traffic controllers union will be joining us in the next segment here of the "full court press." neil king from the wall street journal in studio with us as a friend of bill this hour. neil he started with things that did not happen. like there were no explosions at the white house yesterday.

and the man charged with sending those ricin, charged, arrested -- he was in jail for sending letters to president obama and to the senator from mississippi -- what is his name -- >> wicker. >> yeah. yeah. >> bill: the guy didn't do it. it's hard to believe. >> i don't quite understand how they got so it wrong, but it turns out, i guess he was framed or something by an old non-friend of his. it's a pretty unusual story. but i have to at least toast the justice department and the fbi to fessing up. i don't know what this whole ricin thing is. >> we should have known that an elvis-impersonating, ricin sending guy from mississippi was too good to be true. >> bill: it also may have been a

reaction -- remember this happened the day after the boston marathon bombings and first it was rumored that they were connected, and they said they were not reconnected, but they may have overreacted. >> they probably get letters like this all the time and now they decided to look a little bit more closely. i think the elvis impersonator's union is really happy about this, because they were feeling a little under attack. >> bill: i think the elvis impersonator's union is as big that's air traffic controllers. >> elvis is everywhere, man. >> elvis is everywhere. all right. so now there are some republicans in congress who are saying we're going to stick with the sequester, but just carve

out an exception for the air traffic controllers. we'll talk about that next. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

♪ >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show," live on your radio, and current tv. >> bill: here we are thirty-three minutes after the hour now on wednesday april 24th, it is the "full court press." we are coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv all the way across this great land of ours coming to you from our studio in washington, d.c.

brought to you by the good men and women of aft, making a difference every day in the classrooms of america. you can find out more about their good work at aft.org. we hear today a lot about the good work of the air traffic controllers, and how people miss so many of them not being on the job today because of the sequester with the air traffic delays that have been experienced across the country. jim is a union representative for the air traffic controllers, joining us from miami this morning, and he is an air traffic controller maced in miami. hey, jim, good to talk to you. >> good morning, bill. thanks for having me. >> bill: and neil king is also in studio with us as a friend of bill this hour.

jim from your perspective, how has the sequester impacted your job? >> i can tell you bill as a controller for over 26 years at various facilities including the military, these are unique circumstances being forced off the job. >> bill: have you been furloughed? >> i am talking to you on my furlough day. >> bill: the first? >> yeah, between now september. >> bill: they have told you going to have to take one day a week. >> one day per pay period, and then fiscal year 2014 is looking like the same thing. >> and it's not as if you can be on furlough but decide i'm going to go work anyway. >> that's correct. you can't be called in for overtime, nothing. and that touches on something

else. when i'm on my furlough day to save 8 hours of pay, they came up with a new overtime program, where if they need to call on overtime, they are allowed to call some for pay and a half but i can't make my regular pay, which makes no sense at all. >> bill: and you are not being paid today correct? >> correct. >> bill: what impact is this having on the system? >> we are seeing increases in delays. we will see those delays increase incrementally over the next month as we go into the summer summer periods. training has been suspended at many facilities to supplement the controllers that are being furloughed. the atc academy has been closed

transfers have been frozen modernization projects have been put on hold, and there's a hiring freeze right now. >> bill: i want to play a quick clip from senator pat toomey. >> this is a willful choice being made by this administration in order to inflict as disruptive as possess as possible on the american public and our economy all to further ear political agenda. >> bill: so it's all president obama's political agenda jim, and he's just doing this to -- you know to stir up some -- you know the public out outrage against the republicans in congress. >> it's unfortunate that we are being used as pons in their political chess match. but the finger pointing and name

blame has got to stop and we need to start looking for solutions. they need to postpone the furloughs like they did the power closures last month, and let's come up with a solution. everybody agrees this is not the way to do business. so someone needs to show some leadership and sit down and get this resolved. >> is there a sense of when this will peak? >> as soon as memorial day weekend hits then you are going to start seeing some very serious delays. by then -- >> bill: which could not come at a worse time? >> oh, absolutely not. and then we have weather season that comes and the issue this is, when the faa started blaming some of the delays on weather, well, if you don't have the controllers to address those types of circumstances, it doesn't matter what variable you put out there. lack of staffing is lack of

staffing and taking trainees and instead of training them and stunting their growth as trainee's so it takes them longer to become fully certified, you are just pushing a problem further down the road and it exacerbates a problem that can be fixed, and many senator and congressmen have said, the faa has the latitude to take these cuts someplace else, and they true not to. >> bill: what i have heard at the white house briefings from both secretary ray lahood and press secretary jay carney is that the faa doesn't have a lot of other ways to cut. they are employee heavy, i guess, right? so they have to -- they have to get to their cuts by furloughs. >> right. >> bill: and the furloughs have to include air traffic controllers because there are so

many of you, and you are so central to their operation. if you say they could cut other places, where would they cut? >> the faa's budget is immense. it's contractors, consultants, it's matter of sitting down and prioritizing and saying what do we need now? what can we put off until later? i mean their budget is huge and to do this on the backs of the controllers on the front line is so incredibly wrong, it feels like you are a character in a remake of "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" sometimes. >> bill: interesting. i'm thinking back to ronald reagan, and here again the air traffic controllers are being beat up in this.

>> yeah we're more profile when you see things like that. and it will make the biggest impact. sequestration was supposed to be so bad that there's no way we will go down that road. well, we're here. so let's stop playing political games with the national air space system. >> bill: is there a safety issue, jim? >> i would say that as this goes on, there are absolutely safety concerns in place. we are, again, looking at the closures of those 149 towers come june that will add to the work load of an already stressed air force, which right now due to furloughs, we're working longer time on position shorter breaks, and there are concerns that people are going to get burned out. and i don't think anybody in the flying public wants to see

burned out air traffic controllers. >> so is this basically easy and convenient, the furloughs? senator toomey's idea is that people notice it obviously. >> yeah, people notice and it's matter of -- like i said whatever that political chess match is and the positioning on either side, whether it's republican, democrat white house, faa, to me as a 26-year government employee the public trust means everything to me and the people i represent, and that's what it should be about, and people should lay down their swords and shields and say let's do what is right. of course what we have seen over the last couple of months, i can see why some are pessimistic,

but i am an eternal optimist and people need to be calling their congressmen and saying we don't believe this. the american people do have a voice, as much as they may feel overwhelmed by the system but we are continue to beat the drum towards a positive solution. >> bill: jim marinitta is the union leader of natca. you are an air traffic controller, and you are in miami, right? >> yes. >> bill: i have been in and out of miami many, many times. thank you for getting me in and out safely. on a given day how many flights are you responsible for in one day of time. >> down here we're running

approximately 3,000 operations a day. >> bill: and you personally run how many? [ laughter ] >> i personally -- in one shift -- i would have to get back to you on that. i would have to -- >> bill: a hundred? >> yeah hundreds on one shift, yeah. >> bill: you have got nerves of steal, man. >> but any time you are in the area or any other facility i'm more than happy to give you a tour. >> bill: i would be afraid i would distract somebody. >> we have had a lot of people come in. i would bring you in give you a headset, and let you listen. >> bill: all right. i'm going to take you up on that. all right. thanks jim. >> thank you. >> bill: i would say enjoy your day off, but you are not going

to. >> there's good reason there is apprehension. >> bill: absolutely. let's talk more about it. and is there a political connection here or is it just part of the sequester that we can't avoid. 866-55-press. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it. ♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go twelve minutes now before the top of the hour with our sort of round robin coverage of the news of

the day with neil king here in studio with us as a friend of bill. always good to have you on board, and of course you can follow his excellent reporting and that of his colleagues at wsj.com. peter what is happening? >> yeah, we're on twitter twitter twitter @b twitter @bpshow. we just got a comment from pretty foot on twitter, who says i seem to remember barack obama saying the gop sequester was a not a good idea and i remember the gop praising the sequester. >> bill: as jay carney pointed out yesterday, they did claim that john boehner got 98% of what he wanted. >> we also talked about the popularity of george w. bush.

dan castro says he is still guilty of committing war crimes. and also speaking of neils, [ inaudible ] says neil has the most beautiful voice in the media. i can listen to him for hours. >> oh, god. >> i'm telling you. >> you have a very pretty voice too, bill. >> bill: immigration reform, neil, it looked like it was heading right down the track. you had the gang of eight, and now boston bombing and some people are saying this proves we better not rush into immigration reform. and it looks like they are trying to use it to derail immigration reform. is it going to work? >> i don't think so. chuck grassley and a few have raised issues and then there

are people like paul ryan who came out and basically said look this is -- moving forward on this is itself a security issue. and -- will this in the end get gummed up in the house? it could well. we just don't know what is going to happen i think in the house. but will the boston bombing thing debate? i don't think so. it was a big event, but it is already being put into a different perspective, and i think people will see it for what it is which is this totally bizarre family story of some people from chechnya. >> bill: yeah, and the fact that these two bombers -- i guess you are supposed to say aledged, but it looked pretty clear to me -- but same here legitimately

through the system with their families, and that is not connected to the immigration problem we have today. >> yeah, how you would design a system that would be so perfect that would detect somebody might go awry ten years down the road -- >> bill: yeah you mentioned rand paul. i have to ask you about -- so rand paul to me rose to the occasion filibusters on the floor of the senate about we better be careful about these drones, and using drones in this country to do any kind of surveillance. i thought he was absolutely right on. yesterday he goes on fox news and does almost a complete about face. here he is. >> i have never argued against any technology being used when you have an imminent threat an active crime going on, if

someone comes out of a liquor store with a gun and $50 in cash, i don't care if a drone kills them or a police officer kills them. >> bill: is that kind of extreme from we can't use any drones in this country to you can use a drone to kill a guy for 50 bucks. >> yeah, but you don't want to be looked at when you are in your hot tub. >> bill: no. i guess it raises the question again with your national political reporter hat on because this guy is clearly running for president, right? is rand paul running for prime time? >> he came out with an interesting statement on this enemy combatant thing, which

seemed odd and his statement was basically i think our judicial system is incapable of dealing with this young man as he called him. and then -- is he ready for prime time? he'll work some of the kinks out, but that's his nature. >> bill: yeah a little erratic. like his dad as a matter of fact. >> he is expanding the circle certainly. >> bill: oh, absolutely. neil we just got started it seems and we're out of time. >> nice to see you. >> stephanie: i'll be back to tell you what the president is up to. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. president obama going on the road again today, but first a few meetings at the white house. the daily briefing today at 11:45, he and the vice president will be meeting with the press secretary, jack lew, and then the president and the first lady will fly down to dallas. they will be attending a fund raiser for the democratic national committee tonight in dallas. nice to know there are enough democrats in dallas to write big checks for the dnc, and tomorrow he'll be there for the dedication of the bush library, and before they take off, jay carney will be giving the regular press briefing this afternoon at 12:30.

ginger gibson from "politico" joining us in the next hour.

[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: and good wednesday morning, everybody, wednesday april 24th. great to see you today on the "full court press" coming to you live coast-to-coast here on current tv bringing you up to date on the news of the day, and getting your comments about what it all means your thoughts welcome at 866-55-press. that's our toll-free number. your thoughts welcome on twitter

at @bpshow, and as a friend your thoughts welcome on facebook facebook/billpressshow. the senate and the house both back in session today before they take off by the way for another week -- week's break next week, and these days the debate is whether or not what happened in boston should have any impact on immigration reform legislation, and if so how? republicans are also still whining about those delays in flight -- flight delays at many of our major airports and some republicans are demanding that congress pass an exemption to the sequester for air traffic. and for air traffic controller and of course they don't care about all of the cuts the sequester has made in such programs as head start or medicaid or food stamps or anything affecting the poor or the middle class.

plus the guy who was accused of sending the ricin letters, ends up, he didn't do it. we'll bring you up to date on that and a whole lot more right here on current tv. converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney.

(vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? ♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go ready to go loaded up for the "full court press" this third hour together this morning. welcome everybody, good to see you today. we're coming to you live from our nation's capitol as always with the news of the day here in washington, d.c., around the

country. the suspect up in boston, apparently still talking. he has been mirandized but is still talking and the fbi more and more convinced that these two brothers were as they say, self taught, and self inspired and put the bombs together themselves and cooked up the plot themselves. they had everything together except an escape plan. bring you up to date again on what is happening here around the country, around the globe, and hear from you, take your calls at 866-55-press. look at your twitter comments at @bpshow and follow what you have to say on facebook at facebook/billpressshow. always good to have you involved in the conversation. that's what it is all about. on this wednesday morning, team press in place peter ogburn and dan henning. >> hello. >> hello.

>> and alicia cruz has the phones covered. and siprion bolling -- what happened to siprion? we had a little change of drivers while i wasn't looking. >> today the nationals have a day game -- >> bill: he was at the caps last night. >> he was at the caps game last night. so he is going to the nationals day game -- >> it doesn't start until like 1:00. >> he drinks that's how he gets through these recent nationals losses. >> bill: that's how i got through them. but replaced here by monty on the video. >> there he is. >> bill: so we'll still be here for this hour on current tv. a sad note yesterday, although he had a good run and a good life, we lost allen arbus you

remember him as major sidney friedman in mash. here he is playing poke we are allen all da. >> what is the psychiatric basis for gambling? >> sex. >> why? >> i don't know, they tell me to say it. sex is why we gamble and why we give birth. >> thank you doctor. >> that will be a $5 tip. it was a house call. [ laughter ] >> that was such a great show. >> yeah, it was. >> and you can still find them. [ mash theme song ] >> bill: there is it. the theme song. what a memory. ginger gibson will be joining us, and the sequester has

finally kicked in, maybe people didn't realize it until they went to catch a flight and they ended up having a one hour, two hour, three-hour flight delay? oh, my god. but first -- >> the koreans are not happy with bill gates. the president met with the leader of south korea with one hand and one hand in his pocket. the south koreans slammed gates for his bad manners, but the president did not complain. >> bill: he was shaking her hand. get a life. >> cnn has owned up to their bad coverage of the boston comings

last week. king said his inaccurate reporting of the investigation was quote embarrassing he also noted what happened was a shot to him personally and professionally and has certainly learned a lesson even though he has been at this for over 20 years. and ben after -- affleck has committed to take the live below the line challenge. he'll have to live on a dollar 50 a day for five days. he tweeted that 1.4 million people do that every day. >> bill: i think some others lived on food stamps -- >> uh-huh. >> bill: but that's more than a dollar 50 a day. >> yeah this is a new thing to

me. i have heard the food stamp diet, but i have never heard the $1.50 a day. >> bill: there is a way around this that is fill your car with gas and your refrigerator with food before you start. you could probably live on $0.25 a day if you do that. i have the answer to poverty. i have the answer to the flight delays too, which is get rid of the sequester. this has become the big political football of the day. now that the sequester is actually kicking in in a way that affects not just the poor and not just the middle class, now the sequester is really kicking in and people are whining. they started whining about the cancellation of the white house tours, which have still not resumed, and will not resume until after the sequester is

over. but even with the white house tours, congress just -- they might have -- some of the republicans may have whined about it, but they didn't try to do anything about it but the air traffic delays they are screaming bloody murder and demanding that congress carve out an exemption to keep planes on time. we're talking an hour to two hours delay here in washington and new york. harry reid pointing out that these delays and cancellations are twice as bad as we saw last year with all of that heavy weather. >> the worst day we had last year because of weather-related issues, less than 3,000 flights

are delayed. now every day more than twice that number will be delayed. >> bill: so 6,000-plus every day that are going to be delayed, and the jim marinitti who joined us in the last hour who is with the national air traffic controllers union, he is on furlough today. he pointed out to us this is his first day of furlough but he will have to take off -- like today, sit home one day every pay period. pay period is every two weeks, so that means a 10% cut he is not getting paid for today. that's a 10% cut in pay, and that's projected through the end of the year and then they said in 2014 they told him to anticipate doing the same thing

for 2014. pay cut then for the rest of this year, 10%, and all of next year, but jerry -- start with -- yeah jerry mirand says this doesn't have to happen. this is the white house playing politics. >> it leads us to believe there is something else afoot here in a political sense that sequestration is something the country cannot afford. >> bill: when the obama administration warned that if sequester goes through, there are going to be some real impacts, including flight delays, they said the -- the white house was exaggerating now that in fact flight delays have occurred because of necessary cuts from -- by the sequester to air traffic

controllers, now they accuse the white house of playing politics so does republican pat toomey. >> this is a willful choice being made by this administration in order to inflict as disruptive of process as possible on our economy all to further a political agenda. >> bill: political agenda? >> gee, weird. >> bill: yeah, they want the sequester, but they don't want anything to happen because of the sequester. this is the sequester that jay carney pointed out republicans gleefully adopted. >> congress had an opportunity, but republicans made a choice. and this is the result of a choice they made to embrace the sequester as and i'm quoting the republicans, a victory for the tea party, a home run. >> bill: and john boehner said at the time i got 98% of what

they wanted. >> he nailed it. this is something we talked about. >> bill: ray lahood i told you came in to the white house briefing room, and he was one of the cabinet secretaries who came in, and he called it. he said, look if this goes through, we have to cut in the faa, whatever the figure is and the only way we can do that the only way we can do that because we're so employee heavy is to furlough. and furloughs are going to include air traffic controllers, and that is going to mean we have to shut down some towers. 149 will be shut down in june. we'll have fewer air traffic controllers because of furloughs. that will mean flight delays and some flights will be canceled. hello. but here is the irony, so now the same ones that accused the white house of exaggerating, are

now accusing the white house of doing this deliberately politically to piss people off. it's just not the case. what the case is is that the sequester as it kicks in is going to have greater and greater impacts, and if you think this is bad, it is only going to get worse. what the republicans are complaining about, white house tours, notice, the republicans complaining about air traffic delays. they are not complaining about other cuts that are really hurting real people. they are not complaining about all of the cuts in head start, food stamps, all of the cut miss medicaid, all of the cuts in section 8 housing. all of those cuts where people below the poverty line or at the poverty line really depend on those programs. republicans don't care about them. they are only whining about two things, white house tours and

flights leaving on time. >> yeah. yeah. >> bill: guess what, you cannot have the sequester and not have pain. tim is calling from rockford illinois. what do you say, tim? >> caller: good morning, i am definitely conservative and vote republican often, but this sequester, and attack on public unions has got me [ inaudible ] independent for well over ten years. i just don't have any desire to call myself republican or be part of their numbers so to speak. they better hear me loud and clear, that if that political party ever wants to do anything in the future they better get rid of the people in their party that can't stand public employees and helping people. i mean i'm conservative on virtually every issue. i can't stand corporations, i can't stand the fact that the

poor have to suffer. if that means i pay more taxes, then so be it. and trust me bill i'm not liberal, and it just has to end. somebody has to stand up and say wait a minute, we can go in a completely different direction. we don't need basis in every country in the world that costs billions and billions and billions of dollars, let's take care of our own. it takes a bomb to hurt 200 people before we realize we care for each other? that doesn't mean we give up our values or ideologies. it means we care about people. and i see the republican party as ceasing to care for each other, and i don't want to be a part of that. >> bill: tim i really appreciate your call. >> where are guys like that? smart conservatives that know this is bad? >> bill: yeah, joe scarborough

has been very very critical of the republican party lately. the republican party has lost its way, i believe. and i believe voices like tim -- people like tim understood that, and would like to see the republican party get back on track. they don't get back on track by attacking air traffic controllers, or the poor. 866-55-press. we'll be right back. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." ♪ everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding.

>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks.

i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. ♪ >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press

show." now on current tv. >> bill: here we go twenty-five minutes after the hour the faa saying here on the "full court press" -- faa says that furloughs delay more than 1200 flights on monday by the way. the flightstats.com, a company that monitors airline performance counted nearly 7,000 delays on monday but not all of those due to the sequester. faa is saying 1200 due to the sequester alone. and i ran into a union friend of mine yesterday at the gym who said the reality is -- and i agree with him the reality is that we're just going to see more and more impacts of the

sequester, in more and more ways that effect more and more people. if you think this is bad, it's only going to get worse. we'll talk more about that and get your calls a little bit later. first there is one other big item in the news that i think is worth mentioning. i used to do a little show at cnn called "cross fire," and we talked last week that there's a rumor that cnn might want to bring back "crossfire," and my response was if they want to bring back the original "crossfire," great, good show. if they want to bring back that mickey mouse show they did over at george washington university which was like a gong show forget that. that was a joke.

yesterday cnn reported it is serious about this, still we don't know for sure but they are serious about this and they are talking to two people about bringing back "crossfire," stephanie cutter an obama campaign aide, to be on the left, and on the right on "crossfire," newt gingrich. [ laughter ] >> bill: why? why? did anybody talk to roger ails? the host of "crossfire", you are supposed to ask the questions right? and let the guests do the talking. newt is just a talker. >> it will be fifty-seven minutes of newt talking. >> bill: yeah, this is the craziest idea ever. don't do it. but i think they probably will.

i think they are that desperate to get back in the race. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney.& (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: it is indeed the "full court press" on a wednesday, april 24th. thirty-three minutes after the hour. we're coming to you live from our nation's capitol our studio on capitol hill, we're brought to you today by the good men and women of the teamsters union. building a better america. you can find out more about their good work at their

website, teamster.org. the house and senate back in session today for another weeks before they take another week off. of course i ask chief of staff or one of the members of the house yesterday, why are you taking off next week? he said because we worked two weeks in a row. she was kidding of course but that seems to be the rule. covering the hill and politics in general for political, ginger gibson joins us again in studio. good to have you back. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> last week we were in the middle of a manhunt. >> bill: yeah, but they got him, so now we can come back and focus. talk about a different kind of manhunt

manhunt. there was a manhunt down in mississippi for a man who might have sent some letters laced with ricin two of them, one to the president and the other to senator roger wicker and his name was kevin curtis, the fbi tracked him down. and everybody said what a great job, nailed him. threw him in jail, and it turns out he didn't do it. >> they got the wrong guy. they have released him from jail, dropped the charges against him, and he has been let to go free. they are back to square one. the family is invissisting that he was being framed. and there was a scare yesterday when there was talk of a third letter at bolling air force

base. >> bill: and these elvis impersonators are not as dangerous as they appear. >> i still wouldn't trust one. >> bill: mr. curtis said i love my country. >> i respect president obama. i love -- love my country, and would never do anything to pose a threat to him or any other u.s. official. >> bill: and as far as ricin goes, here is his comment. >> i never heard of ricin or whatever, i thought they said rice, and i said i don't even eat rice. >> i didn't know what ricin was when this started. [ laughter ] >> bill: yeah, it's pretty scary that the fbi could blow it that badly. you know? at least they admitted they made a mistake. >> they did, and now he can go

back to impersonating elvis. when senator wicker will hire him again. because he hired him some years ago. >> bill: he did. he entertained as an elvis impersonator. ♪ >> bill: now speaking of other things that did not happen yesterday. there were no explosions at the white house either. and president obama was not injured. >> you know what was scary about that was a tweet from the ap caused that much mayhem. one tiny tweet that there has been explosions at the white house sent the stock market into a dive scared a lot of people. and there were no explosions. that did not happen. >> bill: yeah, i went to the white house as normal got into the briefing room and suddenly there was all of this buzz in

the briefing room and we knew there had not been any explosions at the white house, but in this day and age we are so sensitive to one twitter feed, right? it sends shock waves around the world instantaneously. >> but i was pleased to see that almost everybody -- aside from the stock market -- recognized this as a hack. because there are cameras on the white house all the time if you are near a tv you would have heard about it other than just one tweet from the ap. so i think a lot of people wrote it off which might be even more disturbing that the shock market did what it did. >> bill: there was a different explosion at the white house when word came that senator max baucus, veteran democrat in cycle, up for reelection in

2014, $5 million in the bank said i'm tired of this and not going to run. so if you add him to karl eleven, tom harkin jay rockefeller, frank lautenberg this is bad news for democrats. >> yeah, frank lautenberg not likely to have won. but a couple of these -- montana is a red state, and a democrat winning there is going to be tough. >> bill: and [ inaudible ] just got reelected. >> yeah, harry reid is counting heads and those are some hard seats we is going to have to count for. center manchin is .

but you have the guys up for re election that are running. senator pryor, senator hagan, these are folks that will be running really hard races. so the democrats are counting seats, and when you have someone who is going to retire, it's going to be a fight for them. >> bill: and the same thing for the senator in iowa, red-blue state, but not blue. >> yeah, there's two harkin in iowa that state is a little bit more swing state. louisiana a red state, but she is a 12-year incumbent, she has run before, so she is a little less vulnerable but the cards are starting to stack one way against the senate demes, and they are going to need a lot of money and a lot of campaigns. >> bill: yeah, when the team of

horses is retiring it is going to make it even tougher. speaking for another senator who is up for reelection on the other side lindsey graham who is doing everything he can to head off a tea party challenger i think, and keeping his name out in the public so he is on every sunday talk show every sunday every one of them, and a couple of days ago he is back in the news because no sooner had they found the remaining one suspect in the boston marathon lindsey graham goes out and says he has to be tried as an enemy combatant. he didn't win that round did he? >> he didn't appear to. he came out on friday before he had been caught and said that this person should be tried as an enemy combatant. he pressed a little bit more and

then backed off a little bit on monday but didn't win this round. we know he is going to be tried in civilian court. but graham wanted him interrogated for intelligence and thought putting him in the civil system took away some options to interrogate him. and graham is trying to stave off a challenger. he has been a real proponent on the gun issue, and immigration and some of the other things and agreed to raise taxes on the budget. so he has to find a way to keep his base happy in north carolina that's for sure. >> bill: yeah, he was saying that he should be tried -- enemy combatant means if we were brought to trial, it would be in a military tribunal and there have been all kinds of problems

in military tribunals, i mean a disaster. whereas the federal court system, which every american citizen by the way is entitled to, we have done very well in taking terrorism cases in front of the federal courts. >> graham tried to thread that needle carefully, saying i don't think he needs to be tried in a military tribunal but let's treat him as a military combatant for a couple of weeks. i think it became clear that that really wasn't an option at all. it might not even be legal to try an american citizen in a military tribunal. >> bill: yeah senator feinstein said flat out, unconstitutional. >> yeah, so now it seems like he just wants him interrogated like

he wasn't an american citizen, and then he can go back to being a citizen. >> bill: yeah. lindsey graham just drop this issue and move on. we'll be back with ginger gibson from "politico," and the big debate at the moment on the hill is whether or not what happened in boston should have any impact on -- or should be a reason to delay the immigration reform proposal that the gang of eight put forward. if youing want to jump in do so right now at 866-55-press. that's our toll-free number. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

>> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv. ♪

>> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio, and on current tv. >> bill: here rego twelve minutes before the top of the hour. president obama today after a full day at the white house with various meetings down there will head off to dallas texas. he appears at a fund raiser tonight for the democratic national committee, and tomorrow morning he will join former president george h.w. bush former president jimmy carter, at the george w. bush library, for the opening of yet another presidential library. ginger gibson in studio with us.

>> insert joke there. >> bill: i know insert joke. >> i won't make a joke about the one shelf they have for the george bush library. >> bill: how many books to you have to have to have a library. >> and lots of crayons will be there. >> bill: ginger gibson is here from "politico." she covers the hill and politics in general for "politico." but ginger people do feel compelled at a time like this to say some nice things to say about george w. bush. >> absolutely. these are one of those times where all of the living presidents generally attend. >> bill: it's a very exclusive club and even reporters from the ap came out yesterday

with -- what were the headlines, let's at mitt it george bush is really a nice person. i'm not going to deny he was a nice person. but i would have to say, still, his policies suck. and they did then, and they do now. you don't have to be personal and say he is an a-hole or something. >> texas natives, get two libraries now. >> bill: two ways to waste your time. >> lbj is the other one in austin. >> bill: i'm against presidential libraries just so you know. >> i didn't get that. >> i think you made that clear. >> bill: i want to go back to the question of the day about immigration reform. it started monday dan if you can help us out here.

at the senate judiciary committee, where senator grassley made some comments about maybe we ought to have second things about what we're doing with immigration reform. and chuck schumer without calling him by name suggests this is not the way to go and we know what happened. >> i say that particularly those who were pointing to the terrible tragedy in boston as i -- i would say excuse for not doing the bill or delaying it many months or years -- >> i didn't say that! >> i didn't say you -- >> let me finish. [ laughter ] >> leahy was done with that. >> yeah, old men arguing. >> bill: but it does get back to the question, should the events in boston have any impact on

immigration reform? i think they are two totally separate issues. >> the two bombers were here seeking asylum. >> bill: one was 8 and the other was 15. >> yes and obtained legal citizenship through the regular course of action. we started hearing rumblings early, saying we should reevaluate, but the gang of 8 pushing back strong on this. what we could see was a re-evaluation on some of the security measures. there are background checks, and other attempts to address the issues of security. they are probably going to reevaluate those and that is going to be an attempt to no one can make that argument. >> bill: and we're talking about

a totally different class and group of immigrants most of them are from south of the border, and we have to have some permanent status for them. but one could make the case that bringing them out of the shadows and we know who they are and where they are, and what their record is and that that would be helpful to immigration reform. but i think the real answer is they are totally two separate issues. >> we knew last week i think a bunch of us who cover policy knew it was going to come up in immigration or guns. and it came up in immigration, and may still come up in guns. but once you can track and know the status of all of the people then whoever doesn't step forward, that's when they can

start questioning. and there are a number of illegal immigrants who came from europe that most people don't think of being a part of that population, but there are some. >> bill: yeah absolutely. ginger gibson good to see you. and we'll see you again soon. >> glad to be here. >> bill: and i'll be back with a parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ (vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

(vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. ♪ >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: so can you believe it george w. bush is going to have his own presidential library, which i hate to see, not because

it is a george w. bush library, but because it is one more in a landscape already cluttered with presidential libraries. there's no george washington presidential library, thomas jefferson, john adams, but ever since franklin roosevelt, the rule is every president has to have his own library like the kings of egypt built their own pyramids. come on, enough is enough. all egos aside, i think it would be a lot better to have one central, presidential, smithsonian library right here in washington which would house the papers of all presidents good and bad. i mean we can always go to egypt to visit the pyramids. we don't need anymore of them here. congressman joe courtney joining us tomorrow. have a good one, folks, we'll

see you right back here tomorrow morning. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."